S&P hits new record but closes off 2,000 mark

NEW YORK: The S&P 500 topped the 2,000 mark for the first time during trade Monday but slipped back to finish just below the benchmark.

Stocks were broadly higher in confident buying, bolstered by the Federal Reserve's caution over raising rates and a handful of new merger deals.

At the closing bell the broad-market S&P 500 index was up 9.54 points (0.48 percent) at 1,997.94. The intraday peak, a record, was 2,001.95.

The narrower blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 75.65 points (0.44 percent) to 17,076.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 18.80 (0.41 percent) to 4,557.35, its highest level since the dot-com crash 14 years ago.